Spinal posture assessment and low back pain

Abstract

• Postural assessment can help doctors and therapists identify risk factors for low back pain and determine appropriate follow-up treatment. • Postural alignment is not perfectly symmetrical, and small asymmetries can instead represent norms and criteria for postural evaluation. • It is necessary to comprehensively observe patients’ posture in all directions and analyze the factors related to posture evaluation. • The results of reliability show that in general intra-rater reliability is higher than inter-rater reliability, and inclinometers are being more reliable than other instrumentations. • Some common postural problems can cause lumbar discomfort, and prolonged poor posture is a potential risk factor for lumbar spine injuries. • On the basis of previous studies on posture evaluation, a unified standardized method for posture evaluation must be established in future research.